Thousands attended a memorial service on Sunday, a week after the Bondi Beach mass shooting rocked Australia, as officials announced a review of the country’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The attack – Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades – killed 15 people during a beachside Hanukkah celebration and was classified as a terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community. One of the suspected shooters was killed during the attack, while the other was injured and charged with terrorism and murder after waking up from a coma, while Australian investigators investigate their alleged links to the ISIS terrorist group.
A moment of silence was observed at 6:47 pm local time (2:47 am ET) on Sunday, exactly seven days after the attack began. Candles lit the Sydney Opera House, while crowds of mourners attended an evening memorial service in Bondi, under heavy police guard, including snipers on rooftops and police boats in the water.
“Just as the grass here in Bondi was stained with blood, so too was our nation. We have landed in a dark place,” David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, told the crowd.
But he pointed to the heroism of Ahmed Al-Ahmad, a Syrian-Australian fruit shop owner who disarmed one of the shooters, adding that “one act of courage, one beacon of hope, can give us direction and point the way forward.”
Osip read a message to the crowd from Al-Ahmad, who is recovering in the hospital after suffering several gunshot wounds. Al-Ahmad said in his message: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Today I stand with you, my brothers and sisters.”
The memorial was attended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, as well as Governor-General Sam Mostyn, King Charles’ representative in Australia. Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard was photographed embracing mourners in the crowd.
The shooting has left Australians across the country reeling, with tributes accompanied by accounts of the government’s response to rising anti-Semitism and the availability of guns in the country.
Albanese was booed by crowds as he arrived for the memorial on Sunday evening. This comes after criticism from leaders of the Australian Jewish community and some families of the victims, who blamed the Australian government for ignoring growing signs of anti-Semitism in the wake of the war between Hamas and Israel that broke out following the October 7, 2023 attack, and accused it of not doing enough to protect the country’s Jewish community.
On Sunday, Albanese commissioned a review of Australia’s federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to examine whether they had “the right authorities, structures, processes and engagement arrangements in place to keep Australians safe” in the wake of the attack.
“Last Sunday’s ISIS-inspired atrocities reinforce the rapidly changing security environment in our nation,” his statement said. “Our security services must be in the best position to respond.” Albanese said the review would be completed by next April.
State authorities in New South Wales moved to tighten restrictions on pro-Palestinian protests and hate speech in the wake of the attack, with New South Wales Premier Chris Means saying the protests “unleash something in our society that the protest organizers cannot contain.”
Suspected gunman Naveed Akram, 24, was charged with 59 charges on Wednesday, including terrorism and 15 counts of murder, after he woke up from a coma in a Sydney hospital after being shot by police. He allegedly carried out the attack with his father, Sajid Akram (50 years old).
Police said last week that two “home-made” ISIS flags were found in the younger suspect’s car, adding that they had traveled to the Philippines last month – once considered a hotspot for Islamic extremists.
In its weekly Al-Naba magazine, ISIS praised the attack and described it as a “source of pride,” but did not directly claim responsibility for the attack.
Albanese said last week that Naveed Akram came to the attention of Australia’s domestic intelligence agency in 2019, and was investigated for six months over his alleged extremist links, but it was determined that he posed no threat.
Albanese also called for the country’s already strict gun laws to be tightened immediately after the attack, and said on Friday that Australia would launch a national gun buyback scheme.